Lead engineer of IL-2 Sturmovik joins MSFS team. Could mean further enhancements to MSFS flight model

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I think this is pretty big news and another huge win for MSFS. The lead engineer of IL-2 Sturmovik, Andrey (An.Petrovich) Solomykin, has joined the MSFS team: Lead engineer departs Great Battles team (updated) – Stormbirds

A lot of flight simmers have commented how IL-2 Sturmovik has a very good flight model so I don’t doubt that Andrey Solomykin can help enhance MSFS’s flight model even more. IMO, MSFS already has a very good flight model, as Easyjetsimpilot, a real life pilot and popular flight sim Youtuber has said, based on this comparison video of MSFS’s flight model.

I think Andrey Solomykin can probably bring MSFS’s flight model to a whole new level that has never been seen in a flight sim before. At the end of the day, it’s nice that MSFS has a big budget, because that big budget can make a huge difference in cases in getting talent like Andrey Solomykin and talent like Working Title . On the other hand, the budget of MSFS’s competition is so poor, they can’t even do ground textures right :rofl:

A few words from Andrey Solomykin on his move to MSFS:

So history, in a sense, is cyclical. I see that some of you have already figured it out, and it was not a big secret anyway, that yes, I moved to Asobo, and I will work on MSFS.

Over the years, the subject of my main interest has always been and remains flight itself, its swiftness or, conversely, quiet lightness, its grace, freedom of movement in three-dimensional space, perfection of aviation technology and bewitching beauty of the surrounding world - whether it is dizzying and stunning with its energy aerobatics in a fighter, or the art of soaring in a hang glider among mountains and clouds, alone with nature.

Anyways, I wish Andrey Solomykin the best of luck, and I can’t wait to see how his work benefits MSFS, like Working Title’s work has really started to show in MSFS.

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Whether or not this actually yields tangible results for users of MSFS2020 remains to be seen. Since day one, we’ve gotten a lot of promises to fix the flight model, but very few actual changes being implemented.

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Not sure what you mean. Prop physics was implemented, something that wasn’t there on day 1. CFD was also added shortly after the prop physics. And there is a new 20 KM CFD around the plane that is coming in SU 11, I believe.

That’s the polar opposite of, “but very few actual changes being implemented.”

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That does indeed sound like great news. But the way he talked about he often thought about combat as the catching of each other and not the destructive and military aspects of it, that intrigued me. Why was he describing that right after he announced he was going to MSFS? It perhaps might mean that we might get a Microsoft Combat Simulator 2020. This one allowing you to have weapons on your aircraft, but focused more on the pure dogfighting than a full war basis. That is only a guess. But based on announcing he is going to Asobo, and he thought of air combat as more chasing each other than military. It seems like a strange thought to just throw out there, especially right after “hey, i’m going to Asobo”.

Yes, MSFS you can’t have weapons on a plane. But if MSCS 2023 was its own product, it wouldn’t have the E rating, it wouldn’t probably be a Game Pass option, and then it could have weapons.

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I think he is joining the MSFS team, probably to help enhance the flight model further.

But I would not object to a combat flight simulator from Microsoft using the MSFS engine. I dislike having to pay for every separate scenery in DCS. Also, you get nickel and dimed for every plane in DCS. I like the MSFS model much more, where the entire world is covered in satellite/photogrammetry and it’s all free, plus you get a nice starter pack of default planes to use (albeit, the default planes are not as good as it could be, but in SU 11, we’re getting very good default planes including the A310 from iniBuilds, Beaver from Milviz, etc).

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Great news!

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While I am vested in MSFS to the tune of $1000’s, any effort to divert two years of failure away from ASOOBO/MS for CTD’s, stutters, inability to squash a small bug without crashing the whole sim shows that, even the greatest aspirations can be demolished with the wave of a corporate wand
Bring in your saviors Asobo. Banging a drum for a talented developer serves no one.

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I think he was saying that he’s far more interested in the flying than the fighting. Which is something it would make a lot of sense to emphasise with a move to MSFS, given there is only flying and no fighting.

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I guess. But I’m still gonna be the first person to put it out there. Microsoft Combat Simulator 2024…

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Wouldnt THAT be a hoot?

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Another quote from the linked post:

I am glad that I am returning, one might say, to the origins of my interest and love for aviation, not burdened with weapons and military topics.

So I think he’s not your man for MCS!

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Your definition of “failure” might need a bit of tweaking. I mean, everything is relative, but “failure” is quite a strong choice.

I choose to celebrate the successes of the last FOURTY years of this franchise, and especially since the launch of the current sim. I look forward to every chance I get to fly the sim!!!

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It is sad that the complainers have emerged after such great news. Sad but expected.

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FYI flight model in a simulator is not made by one person. It’s not like he goes there and MSFS will suddenly be rewritten. It’s just a job, he will be part of an already expert team. In what role, we don’t know. This is like when somebody from Rockstar goes over to, say, Ubisoft, and people immediately assume the next Assassin’s Creed will be like GTA (just an example).

I’m sure Mr. Solomykin will lend his expertise but MSFS is already an established simulator, contrary to popular belief its flight model is very realistic, so it’s not like it’s going to be radically changed because one man changed workplace. It’s simply too early to see too much into this.

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probably a change of heart about war machines generally - I had the same thing happen to me. Thought I would always love warplanes and arial combat simulation. The machines themselves and the engineering behind them are incredible. Beautifully aerodynamic and powerful. But the purpose - the fact that they are made for killing human beings only has changed my view. Air combat simulations elicit the same feeling.
These days I’d much rather fly for the sensation of flying itself, using civilian type aircraft not purpose built for war. Seems that this is what this software engineer is relating as well.
I started in flight simming with the original Il-2 Forgotten Battles - I remember many discussions on their boards, comparing MS flight sims to their own. They claimed often to have a better way of modeling flight and chided MS for using ‘tables’ to define flight parameters- user editable config files that could be altered (to create endless unrealistic behaviors in ways that rendered fair online competition impossible). Il-2 had a closed system (at least that was the idea) for a while that made things work in that regard far better than CFS.
It was shortly after I bought Il-2 that I bought a copy of CFS2 and the difference was day and night in favor of Il-2 - not even close.
Today I have DCS, IL2 current iteration, and MSFS - I only use DCS to fly cats and traps, and haven’t touched Il-2 in months.
I look forward to whatever this aviation enthusiast and engineer can bring to MSFS. This is good news.

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Interesting news, and thanks for sharing.

Could have done without that last uncalled for comment !!

WHY ?? what good did it really do ?

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This is great news. IL-2 has very good physics. I don’t fly fighters in MSFS very often because I have the world of IL-2 when I feel like taking a P-47 out for a spin. This addition to Asobo’s team can only bring good things. :slight_smile:

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Whilst the post you’re replying to isn’t constructive, and I agree with others that this isn’t a thread for criticism (there’s enough of those), neither is yours. Paying consumers have a right to complain about issues they’re experiencing.

Just obviously, not in this thread.

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Ah, screw it. Since we’re talking about “the future”, i had seen an article (from a questionable source) that Asobo is “prototyping” a racing game (simulator) for Microsoft.

Interesting the word “prototyping” was used instead of “developing”.

To me, this just leans further into that oft discussed dream of what Asobo started becoming reality. A shared “world of simulation”. Boats, cars, OTR trucking, etc. All running in a shared environment within the Flight Simulator engine. I just wanna take a road trip on the ground instead of the air. :pleading_face:

I didn’t want to make a thread on it because I’m not sure they’d take to kindly to leaks/Asobo “goings-on”. Mods: I’ll take my 40 lashings now.

But, that’s years away. I’ll shut up now.

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Not sure you’d get very far trying to drive in MSFS before you fell into some huge hole in the road! But yes eventually that would be so cool.

A developer just announced in this forum they are developing drivable boats for MSFS so the first steps on world simulation have been started.

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